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Topic: Heating your home (Read 12388 times)

I'm in Australia and have ducted reverse cycle electric heating. It draws cool or hot air in from the rooms and does it's thing converts it and pushes it back out of the vents I have in each room. It's the ducks guts. I'm in Tassie where during winter we'll start the day off at 2 degrees and reach a top of 10. Pretty chilly.

Now the reason I came to this section is something that' I've wondered for a couple of years. On UK shows like Changing Rooms and 60 Minute Makeover, they often cover up the heaters in the living areas and bedrooms IYKWIM like they'll place a couch up against it or they'll build a cute little wooden box around it to conceal it. Do these things not get hot to touch?? How does stuff pushed up against these heaters not catch on fire?

"My" house (the one I lived in when The Sweetie and I met, and is now a rental property) was built in 1957 and is piped for natural gas. It has a gas furnace, which is dirt cheap to run. It was built with little gas-fired heaters in the walls, which I don't use because I'm scared of carbon monoxide.

The Sweetie's house (where we live) was built in the '70s and has an electric furnace. Much more expensive.

Now the reason I came to this section is something that' I've wondered for a couple of years. On UK shows like Changing Rooms and 60 Minute Makeover, they often cover up the heaters in the living areas and bedrooms IYKWIM like they'll place a couch up against it or they'll build a cute little wooden box around it to conceal it. Do these things not get hot to touch?? How does stuff pushed up against these heaters not catch on fire?

Hot water radiators don't get hot enough to burn anything -- I can touch my baseboard radiators with my bare hand, and even steam radiators don't get hot enough to set something on fire. The big problem with enclosing the radiator or sticking furniture in front of it is that it blocks the heat, preventing it from warming the room, thus running up your utility bill. You can make or buy cute radiators covers that have grills in them to let the heat out, but those home decorating shows tend to value aesthetics over practicality.